Northeast Greenland

By Tom McNichol

Zoom in on Google Earth's satellite image of Greenland and this message pops up: "We are sorry, but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for this region." Large sections of northeast Greenland remain unexplored, mainly because accessing the region is so expensive. There are mountains in Greenland's Watkins range that have never been climbed; some peaks don't even have names. New islands off the coast of Greenland are still being discovered as huge blocks of glacial ice break away. Greenland also happens to offer a front row seat to the effects of global warming; ice is crumbling off the edge of the island at a rate of 20 billion tons a year, raising sea levels worldwide.